Just as with the advent of Actual Freedom on the Dharma Overground (DhO) forum, I am once again astonished by the response of my peers to the latest ‘hardcore dharma’ fad, Ruthless Truth (RT).

The Hype

It seems that many are impressed by RT, calling it ‘hardcore pointing out’, enjoying the use of swearing as part of the method, digging the ‘death metal’ aesthetic, amused by the ‘arena’ style application, and excited by the prospect that Ciaran, the founder, and RT are producing enlightened people at a remarkable rate. In fact, Ciaran’s been forced to shut down the forum for a week as:

Our skills at liberating people are so intense that periodically, the Arena becomes saturated and fat with the newly-free. Our intake simply cannot match the speed at which we free people.

Rumour has it that Ciaran and RT have liberated 140+ people in a few months.

Over at the DhO they’re scratching their heads as to whether these people are all at 4th path (enlightenment in Theravada terms) or if some are at the Arising and Passing Event (an initial mystical experience that usually comes before any genuine insight).

Either way, there seems to be little doubt that RTers are getting enlightened, and that their approach is authentic. After all, the RT forum has three grades:

GREEN is for the ROOKIES. Everyone starts out a rookie. Rookies enter the Arena, and win the respect of those around them. But respect counts for nothing. To get into the next group up, you have to be...

ENLIGHTENED. Blue is someone who is ENLIGHTENED. To get into this group, we need to see you in action, preferable through a set piece description post, but also perhaps just as you try to free others. Because freeing others is the only thing that can get you into the...

LIBERATORS. Red is for the LIBERATORS. If you have liberated someone, you get to have a red name, and that means everyone knows that when you talk, they should listen.

I can see why people are excited: all we have to do is log on to a forum, enter into a debate where we call each other names for lolz, come to agree with Ciaran’s idea of ‘no self’, and then achieve the recognition from an online group that we are enlightened as a result of agreement.

Well that’s the hype, let’s check out the details.

The Method

The approach is to look for the self to see if you can find it. The forum is used by a ‘Liberator’ to help guide a ‘Rooky’ in this investigation.

The Enlightenment

When the ‘Rooky’ realises he/she cannot find the self, the ‘Rooky’ is ‘Enlightened’.

Hang on

Yes, it doesn’t look that impressive once you strip away the hilarious name calling, ‘hardcore’ and death metal references, extraordinary claims and Ciaran’s bravado, does it?

Pragmatic Dharma Objection #1: But the method is authentic!

Yes it is. Crucial difference between ‘not-self’ and ‘no-self’ aside (more on that below), this method of inquiring into the existence of the self is an entry level teaching in Buddhism, and is taught on countless retreats the world over. And yet do these retreats claim to churn out 140+ enlightened people in a few months?

Hmm, I wonder why not...(again, more below.)

Hardcore Truth Realiser Objection #2: But the realisation of No Self is enlightement!

No it isn’t. The idea that there is ‘no self’ is a corruption of anatta, or ‘not self’.

‘No self’ = the nonexistence of the self.

‘Not self’ = nothing that I experience is a permanent, unchanging essence. 

The concept of ‘no self’ has created an inordinate amount of confusion. Enlightenment is the direct recognition that the problems of both existence and nonexistence are invalid and always have been; ‘no self’ on the other hand claims everything exists except for the self, which does not exist. This is the polar opposite of what ‘not self’ means.

‘No self’ is at best a shoddy pointing out concept.

Raging Boner Enlightenment Facilitator Objection #3: But none of that means these people aren’t actually experiencing full-on enlightenment, does it? 

Based on Ciaran’s criteria for enlightenment as demonstrated on the forum, none of these people are genuinely enlightened by any stretch of the imagination. Here’s a case study, where Ciaran claims:

I used to use provocation and hatred to spike a person's beliefs, get them out into the open, get then focused, beat them down and get them looking at the truth.

Before you get all weird about it, it was incredibly effective at enlightening people. This duel, for instance, ends in Steve's enlightenment.

 The ‘duel’ begins with a lot of name calling, and ends 5 pages later with a weird messianic triumphant poem courtesy of Ciaran. On page 4, Steve says to Ciaran:

Your last big reply was fucking brilliant. I almost feel like I'm talking to a half genius-half god. Which is rare.

Yes, 'rare' indeed. However, Steve then has some doubts, before posting:

Okay, fine. I'll look. This better be worth it. If this fucks me up, I'm gonna let everyone on this forum know. If I suddenly stop posting on this forum, it means I've been banned. I'll post what happenned some time tomorrow probably or next time I get hold of a computer.

So we are on page 4 of a forum debate where Steve hasn’t even looked to see if there is a self yet. Then:

So, I've been doing my best since yesterday to look through the lense of 'there is no you'.

...

I tried to figure out what 'I' and 'you' is actually referring to. Then I realised that it is referring to nothing at all.

...

This whole thing hasn't been fully internalised yet but it's getting stronger all the time.

...

Ciaran, you're a fucking legend. Ridiculous.

...and there we have it: Ruthless Truth, with it's hardcore pointing out and relentless dedication to liberation, has produced someone ‘enlightened’.

This is a joke

The Buddhist retreats I mentioned don’t claim to churn out a million awakened individuals a year because pointing out the unfindable essence of self leads to nothing but an indirect recognition of this truth in the first instance, once someone has actually looked. This is akin to understanding the truth of light by seeing a shadow for the first time, but not seeing the light itself.

I’m a firm believer that persistence in observing the indirect knowledge of an unfindable essence can lead to direct knowledge; but it takes time and practice. After all, the acceptance and then observation of the Three Characteristics - which include ‘not self’ - are the very beginnings of Buddhist practice.

The ‘ruthless truth’ of RT is that it’s a teenage way of going about a pointing out exercise based on a degenerated understanding of ‘not self’ and all revolving around an egomaniac.

But I doubt this particular truth can compete with the hype.

PLEASE NOTE: Comments have been closed. Though I only wish for the comment thread to end, unfortunately Posterous only has a binary comments policy: there or not. So the comments have disappeared for now.